Thursday’s Mini-Report

* Quite a sight: “A plume of volcanic ash from Iceland hovering over Northern Europe severely disrupted air travel for hundreds of thousands of airline passengers Thursday as authorities cancelled flights across the region.”

* President Obama speaks in Florida, recommits his administration to NASA’s future.

* Housing crisis isn’t over: “A record number of U.S. homes were lost to foreclosure in the first three months of this year, a sign banks are starting to wade through the backlog of troubled home loans at a faster pace, according to a new report.”

* Targeting the Taliban: “The Pentagon has increased its use of the military’s most elite special operations teams in Afghanistan, more than doubling the number of the highly trained teams assigned to hunt down Taliban leaders, according to senior officials.”

* Good to know: “Climate change researchers accused of manipulating or hiding data in last year’s ‘Climategate’ affair were guilty of sloppy record-keeping but not bad science, an independent panel in Britain concluded Wednesday.”

* On a related note, expect to see the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman climate bill on April 26.